Identifying Support Of Reduced Capability In Mobile Communications

Abstract

Various solutions for identifying support of a reduced capability in mobile communications are described. An apparatus, implementable in a user equipment (UE), receives from a network an indication of support of a reduced capability. The apparatus then communicates with the network using the reduced capability, including transmitting to the network an identifier that identifies the UE as a reduced-capability UE.

Description

Claims

1. A method, comprising: receiving from a network an indication of support of a reduced capability; andcommunicating with the network using the reduced capability.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving of the indication comprises receiving from a cell of the network a broadcast indicating support of an operation with the reduced capability by the cell.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the receiving of the broadcast comprises receiving the indication in a System Information Block 1 (SIB1) in the broadcast.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving of the indication comprises receiving from the network a broadcast indicating support of an operation with the reduced capability at a frequency by one or more cells of the network.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the receiving of the broadcast comprises receiving the indication in a System Information Block 1 (SIB1) in the broadcast.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving of the indication comprises receiving from a cell of the network a broadcast indicating support of an operation with the reduced capability by a neighboring cell of the network.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the receiving of the broadcast comprises receiving the indication in a System Information Block 3 (SIB3) or a System Information Block 4 (SIB4) in the broadcast.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the reduced capability comprises one or more of a bandwidth used by a user equipment (UE), a number of receiving antennas at the UE, and a half duplex frequency-division duplexing (FDD) operation.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting to the network an identifier that identifies a user equipment (UE) as a reduced-capability UE.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the transmitting of the identifier comprises identifying the UE as the reduced-capability UE by transmitting a standalone message.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the transmitting of the identifier comprises identifying the UE as the reduced-capability UE during an initial access procedure.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the transmitting of the identifier comprises transmitting the identifier in a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) during a random access procedure.

13. A method, comprising: transmitting to a network an identifier that identifies a user equipment (UE) as a reduced-capability UE; andcommunicating with the network using a reduced capability.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the reduced capability comprises one or more of a bandwidth used by the UE, a number of receiving antennas at the UE, and a half duplex frequency-division duplexing (FDD) operation.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the transmitting of the identifier comprises identifying the UE as the reduced-capability UE by transmitting a standalone message.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the transmitting of the identifier comprises identifying the UE as the reduced-capability UE during an initial access procedure.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the transmitting of the identifier comprises transmitting the identifier in a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) during a random access procedure.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising: receiving from the network an indication of support of the reduced capability.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the receiving of the indication comprises receiving from a cell of the network a broadcast indicating support of an operation with the reduced capability by the cell or by a neighboring cell of the network.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the receiving of the indication comprises receiving from the network a broadcast indicating support of an operation with the reduced capability at a frequency by one or more cells of the network.